


The Wordless One

by Patricia_Sage



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Amnesia, Aphasia, Campaign: Balance (The Adventure Zone), Davenport-centric (The Adventure Zone), Emotional Hurt, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Found Family, Gen, Hurt Taako (The Adventure Zone), Memory Loss, POV The Director | Lucretia, Spoilers for Episode: e060-066 The Stolen Century Parts 1-7, Spoilers for Episode: e067-069 Story and Song Parts 1-3, Taako Angst (The Adventure Zone), The Director | Lucretia is a Mess, The Director | Lucretia-centric
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 12:00:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 954
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28742877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Patricia_Sage/pseuds/Patricia_Sage
Summary: Davenport may not be able to speak, but there isn’t a mystery on this plane that Angus McDonald can’t solve.
Relationships: Carey Fangbattle/Killian, Davenport & Angus McDonald, Davenport & Carey Fangbattle, Davenport & Johann the Bard, Davenport & Killian, Davenport & The Director | Lucretia, Magnus Burnsides & The Director | Lucretia, The Director | Lucretia & Angus McDonald, The Director | Lucretia & Carey Fangbattle, The Director | Lucretia & Johann the Bard, The Director | Lucretia & Killian, The Director | Lucretia & Merle Highchurch, The Director | Lucretia & Taako
Comments: 1
Kudos: 18





	The Wordless One

She is with Magnus when he forgets, and she takes care of him the best she can. She helps him to the ground, so he doesn’t fall like a tree, and then casts Sleep. She gently brushes his hair out of his face, noting that even unconscious he’s grimacing.

She wants to take a moment to breathe, but she doesn’t have the time yet. She needs to get to Barry and Taako next, before they do something reckless in their panic. She rushes up the stairs to the deck of the Starblaster where they spend each night planning and worrying. The walls of the stairwell feel like they’re closing in. She perseveres.

She’s not sure what she expected to see, but it wasn’t this. There’s a hole blasted through the railing and Barry is nowhere to be seen. Taako is crumpled like an abandoned doll on the deck, hyperventilating. His wand, barely clinging to his shaking hand, is still smoking.

“Taako,” she calls out softly as she approaches. He whirls at the sound of his name and the expression on his face nearly breaks her.

His ears are low and flat. His skin, normally a warm brown, is washed out, and his dark eyes are ablaze with panic, confusion, and fear. He scrambles away from her like a wounded animal. “Who are you? Where am I? What the fuck is going on!?”

She has to account for everyone. “Where’s Barry? The other man who was here.”

“I-I don’t…” he points with his wand to the broken railing. “He told me to kill him. I didn’t know what to do – I just did it. Who was that? Why did I do that?” His hair is falling in front of his face like a curtain, some strands sticking to the tears on his cheeks. “I’m sorry! He told me to – I’m sorry!” He’s looking at her like she’s going to blast him in retaliation.

She puts her hands up. “Taako, it’s alright. I’m not going to hurt you.” He doesn’t believe her, and the fierce distrust hurts more than she thought it would. He’s breathing in ragged gasps, pushing his back against the other railing. Taako’s a proud elf; she’s never seen him like this. She thinks of his past, carefully shared by Lup one lonely night, and hates herself for making him defend himself again.

_Oh, Lup. Forgive me for what I’ve done._

Sleep is a contact spell. She dreads what she has to do. “Taako. I know you’re scared and confused, and your head probably feels really strange. Please, let me help you.”

“Who the fuck are you? How do I know _you_ didn’t do this to me?” That breaks through her fragile defenses and she can’t stop a few tears from falling.

“Taako, please.”

He tries to fight her when she approaches, but she disarms him before he can cast any spells. She touches his arm and casts Sleep. He slumps to the ground and she lets herself cry.

But only for a moment.

The last two were in the stateroom this evening for their weekly tabletop game. She collides with a confused and frantic Merle on his way out. They blink at each other for a moment before she sends him to sleep as well, catching him as he falls.

Davenport is sitting at the table when she enters, cards scattered and abandoned in front of him. He’s holding his head in his hands, muttering to himself.

“Captain?” Lucretia calls out softly.

He looks up. “Davenport,” he says.

He doesn’t usually correct her. She doesn’t know what to say. “Listen, I’m so sorry. I know it’s inconsequential now and you don’t even know who I am. But I’m so sorry, sir, I’ll fix everything.”

He’s looking at her with confusion. “Davenport,” he says.

Her heart stops. Something is wrong. “Sir?”

“Davenport!”

His expression is similar to what she saw on Magnus, Taako, and Merle. But there’s also frustration as his mouth seems to grope around words he can’t say. He says his name again. She’s terrified.

She touches his shoulder and protects his head from hitting the table when he goes limp. She prays to any god listening that this is a temporary side-effect, that he will wake up and talk to her.

She casts a careful enchantment on the other three so that they don’t remember being on the ship, but she’s too worried to try the same with Davenport, who remains unconscious on the Starblaster with her for now.

She places Taako in a caravan near New Elfington and, as she stands on his front step, she hears him groaning about a hangover. His mind appears to have filled in the gaps she created (potentially devastating, Lup-sized gaps and 100 years of static).

She purchases a house for Magnus in the community of Raven’s Roost and watches him unpack for a few hours just to make sure he’s okay.

If there’s one thing she knows about Merle, it’s how much he loves the beach. She places him in a little cottage. The first thing he does in the morning is collect a pocketful of shells and plants.

And when she returns, she rouses her captain.

“Davenport?” he mumbles. Even though she was expecting it, it still aches when the flickering and desperate bit of hope is extinguished. His identity as a pilot, a leader, an adventurer – it was too much to take away. The guilt almost crushes her on the spot. She can’t leave him somewhere to start a new life like she did with the others. She has to keep him close, keep him safe.

She offers him a job. He nods.

They build the Bureau of Balance together.

**Author's Note:**

> Sleep has a range of 60 feet but that’s not as narratively compelling, is it? Forgive me. 
> 
> Also, this was supposed to be just a few paragraphs to set the scene and then I got really into the idea of it so now it’s a whole chapter whoops. 
> 
> Next chapter we’re going to get into supported communication for Cap’nport.


End file.
